Wicked Little Sins (21 page)

              Charley typed away at her computer, lost in a tornado of work. So much had piled up since she took time off to be with Adrian. It was definitely worth spending time with him, but she wasn’t happy to see all the work she had to catch up on.

              “Here’s your coffee,” Reeves said, coming into the room. He took a seat watching her fast at work, her fingers moving like lighting.

              “Thanks,” she said, bringing the hot brew to her red lips.              “It’s been quiet here without you. How did the visit go?” he asked. He felt deceived when he saw her furrowed brows and the lack of eye contact she usually gave him.              

“It went uh…well,” she said, not giving any details.

              “Where did you get that locket? It’s beautiful. Your boy toy?” He was digging. Talking with Charley had a way of adding a little excitement to his otherwise mundane life.

              “My mother…got a box the other day,” she absently rambled.

              “Your mother?” Reeves asked, confused. The phone rang, instantly pulling Charley from her work.             

“No, I got it,” she said, fanning Reeves hands away from the telephone.

***

              Adrian lay sprawled out on his bed wearing only his gym shorts. Clutching the phone to his ear, he was ecstatic to hear her voice again.

              “Hey beautiful, catch you at a bad time?” he asked, playing it cool.

              “Just the same as every other time, but I can always make time for you,” she said, sending a big smile his way.

              “Good, so how would you feel about me coming back soon?” He wanted to see her and he wanted the necklace.

              “That sounds great, but I don’t think I will be able to take any more time off. You may be hanging out at my place alone a lot.”

              “That’s fine,” Adrian said, sitting up on his bed. His brother, Angelo, traipsing around in his living room caught his attention.

              “When were you planning on coming?” Charley asked.

              “Um…hey, let me call you back, okay sweetheart?” Adrian said, already hitting end before she could protest.

              Angelo was in his kitchen now, rifling his cupboards for food, snagging a bag of chips.

              “What’s the deal?” Adrian asked, setting the phone on the counter.

              “Got a few useful pieces of information for you. Dad is being released in the morning. Your guess is as good as mine. And Mom sent Andre off to visit that girlfriend of yours. Word got around that all those Harpers were sent packages, and Mother is on it like a moth to a flame, dude,” Angelo said, shoving a handful of chips in his mouth. He couldn’t hide his excitement as he relayed the information to his brother.

              Adrian struggled to contain himself, his mouth sucked of all moisture. He felt defeated, nothing stayed hidden for long.

              “This is not good,” he finally said, rubbing his fingers against his temples.             

Angelo leaned back on the counter, smiling away.

              “Uh, for you, not so much, dude. He’s going to find out you’re the one who helped Mom off that broad. I’d get far away from here,” he said, laughing. Angelo found way too much entertainment in this. He felt he was untouchable, and, for the most part, that was true.

              “He’s not going to figure it out. Even if he did,
I’m
his son,”   he insisted. Maybe if he said it enough, he’d begin to believe it himself.             

“Where you going, Bro?” Angelo called from the kitchen, watching his brother stalk off.

              “I’m packing,” he said, pulling the suitcase from his closet.

              The toilet in the stall next to Quinn’s flushed¸ bringing her back to reality. She hovered over the toilet seat, bracing herself with her hand against the stall. She’d been called in to cover a shift and as upset as she was to pull herself out of bed, she got up and went to work anyway. She needed the cash.

              And now, instead of eating food on her lunch break, she was in the restroom peeing on a stick from the pregnancy test she’d purchased. Peeing and praying at the same time. Her period was late, and if the results were positive, she was in a world of trouble.              “Please, Go
d
,” she said out loud, pulling up her shorts. She tapped the handle with her toe and flushed the toilet. The swishing sound of the flushing water helped to drown out all that was flying around in her mind at the moment.               

“Quinn! We need you out here, right now!” her boss yelled, cracking the door.

              She bit her tongue and stepped out of the stall, waving the test strip around like you used to do with film from a Polaroid camera. She prayed the results were negative.             

“Come on, come on,” she whined. When the bathroom door swung open, she panicked and tossed the test strip into the garbage, and rushed out the door.              

She hadn’t taken the time to see the results. Panic hit her anew as she thought back to having sex with Vinnie. What if she was now pregnant as a consequence of that stupid lapse of judgment? She covered her mouth ready to puke; she would never live such a thing down.

              “Quinn!” her boss yelled again.

              “I’m right here, geez!” she snapped. She tied her apron back on and took the tray from the counter.

              Gia gave her a sympathetic smile, hurrying along to the kitchen.  She hated her job as much as the rest of the staff.

              A patrol car pulled up in front of the Harper residence. Two officers made their way up the unshoveled sidewalk.

              The first officer rapped on the door, kicking the pile of newspapers to the side.

              The light from the other officer’s flashlight shined to the end of the porch.

              “Hey Jim,” he called out, kneeling down.

              “I think I found the neighbor that’s been missing,” he said.

              “Well, there she is, frozen like a popsicle,” Jim said, surveying the body. He pulled at the bushes to get a better look. The idea of murder in his town thrilled him to the core. He’d been on the force for over ten years and he hadn’t seen much.

              “Yep, leave it to this family to add a little excitement to this town,” he said as he spit out of the side of his mouth. The snow continued to fall steadily, their footprints already covered. Now they just had to make sense of what had happened to the woman found frozen in the snow.

              Ethan knew what he was doing was wrong, but he didn’t care. He looked over his shoulder as he inserted the bank card into the ATM machine. Punching in a four digit number the machine buzzed and spit his card back out—wrong pin number. He shook his cold hands as he tossed around different ideas of what the pin could be.

              “January, April, May, and July,” he said, pushing the number for the birthday month of each of his mother’s children. Bingo! He quickly did a balance inquiry, waiting patiently to receive a receipt. It was just like his mother to use the four kids’ birthday months

Out it popped and he snagged it in a rush, feeling spooked as if a million eyes were on him.

              “Are you kidding me right now?” he asked himself, as he stared at the balance.

              “There’s no way! Banks don’t hold that much money for one person,” he insisted, folding the paper and sticking it in his pocket.              Ethan told himself he was doing the right thing as his finger punched the first button. The machine started up, the loud whirring exciting his insides as it dispensed all that was allowed to be withdrawn at one time. He gave another look across the empty parking lot, seeing his truck waiting for him off in the distance.

Everly carried the pizza inside and sat it down on her dining room table. She was tired after a full day of singing and rehearsals for an upcoming show. She planned to have a later dinner, take a hot bath, and then go to bed. Before she could even get started, her phone rang. Taking a look at the display, she saw it was Vinnie. She was excited to see he was calling. They’d been through a lot lately, and she realized now that she did indeed love him. She knew she didn’t want to live a life without him in it.

They didn’t always see eye to eye, but what couple did? She hit answer on her phone. “I thought you would be too tired from the show tonight to even call me,” she smiled into the phone. She figured that was probably the farthest thing from the truth. “Nothing would ever stop me from calling you,” he told her. “I would love to see you right now.”

She hugged herself as she walked around the room, her feelings for Vinnie feeling new and wonderful.

“You should come over. Not having you in bed at night has felt so wrong.”

“Then I am on my way,” he assured her.

She ended the call and did a quick clean up to her place. Vinnie didn’t need to know she’d been surviving on takeout and ice cream since their breakup. She changed into something a little more attractive, combed her hair, and spritzed his favorite scent on her neck. Then she sat on the couch and waited for him to arrive.

Quinn sat in her bathroom chewing at her nails as she waited for the pregnancy results. She was
so
ready to put herself out of this misery. She tapped a foot on the floor, ready to jump out of her skin. Pregnancy would ruin her life right now. No way would she ever consider an abortion. Her phone chimed, indicating enough time had passed to get the results. With shaking hands, she lifted the test strip up to see what it revealed. She fell back against the toilet and released an enormous sigh of relief. She wasn’t pregnant. For once in her life, luck was on her side.

The door opened and she quickly swept everything off the counter and into the garbage. It was too late; he’d already seen it. Jordan just stood there staring at her.

“What’s going on?” he asked, even though he already knew. He just stood there staring at her, arms crossed knowingly across his chest.

“I was just making sure…” She didn’t even finish her sentence; she just moved past him and went to the kitchen.

She opened the refrigerator.

“As far as I knew we’ve always used condoms and you said you were on birth control.”

“Money’s been tight.” She leaned down to stare into the refrigerator until Jordan slammed it shut and took her by the shoulder forcing her to look at him.

“So you stopped taking birth control…fine. Most people don’t take a test when they practice safe sex. And as far as I know we haven’t had any accidents.”

“I was late,” she insisted. “I just wanted to be sure. “ His grip on her tightened and then he released her because he didn’t want to hurt her.

“How long are you going to lie me?” he asked.

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re lying to me right now, Quinn.”

She scoffed and turned away from him, speechless.

“I know for a fact you slept with that asshole back in Ohio. I’m not as stupid as you like to think that I am.”

She spun around, her hands in her hair. It hurt to hear Jordan say it, even though they were in the privacy of her apartment.

“It was a mistake.”

“I was hoping that you were going to tell me that you were sorry.” He shook his head. “Because if you said that, I was pretty sure there was a way I could get over it. Because for some fucked up reason, I really love you.”

She watched him move to the door. She clutched her hand to her chest, not expecting it to hurt so bad if he walked out on her.

“I
am
sorry.” But she wasn’t sure if she was sorry because she’d cheated on Jordan or because she’d let Vinnie use her like that. Plus, she felt so dirty.

“
You’re
sorry,” Jordan spit out, slamming the door behind him.

She balled her fist and screamed, kicking the cat food dish and scattering the food across the kitchen floor.

She was too busy crying to hear her door open. A man dressed in dark clothing stood in her living room watching her as she fell apart. He entwined his gloved fingers, pushing them together for a snug fit, then pulled the black mask completely over his face as he moved toward her.

It wouldn’t take anything to snap her neck before she even knew what was happening. He moved closer. And then that damn cat hissed, giving him up before he knew what to do next.

She spun around and screamed at the sight of him. “What do you want?!”

He grabbed her and tossed her across the kitchen. Her back hit the wall before she crumbled at his feet. She lay motionless as he moved around the room. He looked in the box that Quinn’s mother had sent her, finding nothing in it. He turned back around looking down at her to see if she was wearing the locket—the locket that contained information having the potential to destroy so much. Her hair was in the way of his being able to tell at a glance whether she was wearing it. As he kneeled down to take a closer look, she jumped up with a pair of cooking shears, plunging them deep into his chest. She rolled to her side and crawled from him. Once she got to her living room, she jumped to her feet and ran out of the apartment.

The masked man stood, fell back against the wall, and banged against the counter as he tried to get to the door. He groaned and his hand blindly located the source of the pain. With one jerk, he yanked the shears from his chest. Blood immediately saturated his clothing.